Codger

Word of the Day for Monday, June 10, 2013

Codger \KOJ-er\, noun:

an eccentric man, especially one who is old.

He'll find one of those joints and be there, evening after evening, talking to the bartender confidentially but loud enough. It won't be long before they get used to him. An old codger with money, stooped but still pretty big.
-- Louis Begley, Schmidt Delivered, 2000

One of the lesser Shadows whom we shall call Baron A. had a father-in-law called Baron B., a harmless old codger long retired from the civil service and quite incapable of understanding certain Renaissance aspects of the new regime.
-- Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, 1962

Codger is likely related to the word cadge meaning "to beg." Its etymology is uncertain.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Abdicate

Word of the Day for Friday, June 7, 2013

Abdicate \AB-di-keyt\, verb:

1. to give up or renounce (authority, duties, an office, etc.), especially in a voluntary, public, or formal manner: King Edward VIII of England abdicated the throne in 1936.
2. to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner: The aging founder of the firm decided to abdicate.

I hereby abdicate all government power over the flow of data across and within my borders. Under no circumstances will any part of this government snoop on information flows, or use its power to in any way restrict such flows.
-- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon, 1999

What if he were to abdicate the title and become a republican?
-- Anthony Trollope, The Duke's Children, 1879

Abdicate comes from the Latin abdicare meaning "to disown," "to disavow," or "to reject." The transitive sense entered English in the 1500s, though the intransitive sense didn't appear until 100 years later.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Hadal

Word of the Day for Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Hadal \HEYD-l\, adjective:

1. of or pertaining to the greatest ocean depths, below approximately 20,000 feet (6500 meters).
2. of or pertaining to the biogeographic region of the ocean bottom below the abyssal zone.

Here a once-living being found the hadal current which twists in the waters of all rivers.
-- Lawrence Norfolk, The Shape of a Boar, 2000

By which I mean, if the earth itself were shrunk to the size of a lemon, the black hadal depths of even the Marianas Trench would be shallower than that moist breath of yours gathered on the lemon's skin.
-- Brad Leithauser, The Friends of Freeland, 1997

Hadal entered English in the mid-1900s, and comes from the name Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Zither

Word of the Day for Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Zither \ZITH-er, ZITH-\, noun:

a musical instrument, consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings stretched over it, that is placed on a horizontal surface and played with a plectrum and the fingertips.

The fourth was a young man; he was seated in the window, with his back towards me, bending over his zither. But I could see that he wore a beard. When I came up the old man was playing the violin, though playing is not indeed the word.
-- A. E. W. Mason, The Four Feathers, 1902

...Natalie Lind could play the zither, as one eager listener soon discovered. He, in that far corner, could only see the profile of the girl (just touched with a faint red from the shade of the nearest candle, as she leaned over the instrument), and the shapely wrists and fingers as they moved on the metallic strings.
-- William Black, Sunrise, 1881

Zither entered English in the mid-1850s and ultimately comes from the Greek term for "lute," kithara.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Automaton

Word of the Day for Monday, June 3, 2013

Automaton \aw-TOM-uh-ton, -tn\, noun:

1. a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot.
2. a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence.
3. something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force.

That this is so is evident from the fact that some apprentices as early as their thirteenth year are able to construct an automaton whose motions are anatomically flawless.
-- Steven Millhauser, "The New Automaton Theater," The Knife Thrower: and Other Stories, 1998

"You really are an automaton — a calculating machine," I cried. "There is something positively inhuman in you at times." He smiled gently.
-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four, 1890

Automaton comes from the Greek autos + matos, literally meaning "self thinking." It entered English in the 1600s.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Lunker

Word of the Day for Sunday, June 2, 2013

Lunker \LUHNG-ker\, noun:

1. something unusually large for its kind.
2. Angling. a very large game fish, especially a bass.

In another year, June MacPherson became pregnant again, this time with a lesser character than Rory, a lunker who marched off peacefully to the altar.
-- Leon Uris, Redemption, 1995

The lunker watched him lazily from cool blue eyes and paused to suck an inch of beer. "You going to pinch him?" Peach asked amiably. No, Santiago thought, he wouldn't. He had something better in mind.
-- Richard S. Wheeler, Deuces and Ladies Wild, 2008

Lunker entered English in the early 1900s and its origin is unknown.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com 

Ken

Word of the Day for Saturday, June 1, 2013

Ken \ken\, noun:

1. knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception: an idea beyond one's ken.
2. range of sight or vision.

verb:
1. Chiefly Scot. a. to know, have knowledge of or about, or be acquainted with (a person or thing). b. to understand or perceive (an idea or situation).
2. Scots Law. to acknowledge as heir; recognize by a judicial act.
3. Archaic. to see; descry; recognize.
4. British Dialect Archaic. a. to declare, acknowledge, or confess (something). b. to teach, direct, or guide (someone).
5. British Dialect. a. to have knowledge of something. b. to understand.

…I only loathed myself the more, as the foul corse was borne beyond my ken, that my lot was not even as that of him who had perished in the deep waters.
-- Julia Pardoe, The Romance of the Harem, 1839

I drew out my glass to take a nearer ken, when such beauties shot from one in particular that fired my soul and ran thrilling through every vein.
-- Georgiana Cavendish, The Sylph, 1778

Ken comes from the Old English cennan meaning "to make known, declare." It is related to the common English word "can." Today this verb is chiefly used in Scotland.

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com